About

We’ve expanded our focus to commentary and opinion  about games, games, games, some learning and a bit about libraries.

So, who are we?

Jerremie Clyde is responsible for the digital video game collection at the University of Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  Chris Thomas is the Chief Librarian at the University of Calgary-Qatar (UCQ) in Doha, Qatar.  We are currently working on developing Benevolent Blue, a mod of Half-Life 2, to test this medium for learning information literacy concepts (you can learn more about this project at http://www.ucalgary.ca/hardplay).

Al Vallely is a Business Communications instructor at the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNAQ).  He recently completed his Master’s in Educational Technology with a concentration on video games and learning and is currently exploring educational gaming projects for the local community in Qatar.

As for games – the three of us have logged substantial game-playing over the last three decades and have played on pretty much every system (Jerremie and Al also seem to collect these old relics).  Chris goes back to the Coleco Telstar Colormatic and the Atari 2600, Jerremie to the Intellivision and Al on the C64 and the PC.

Favorite game(s):
Chris – Baldur’s Gate, MarioKart (N64)

Al – “Probably my favorite game ever is Star Control 2. I’ve played that multiple times through, in 3 separate decades (it was released 1992 I believe). It’s a descendant of Starflight, and if you haven’t played it – you’re a fool! Exploration, Action, great writing (quasi-Monty Python-esque at times). They made a FREE, open-source version which takes the best from all the versions (basically PC + 3DO)”.

Jerremie – Dune II, Alone in The Dark, Pool of Radiance,  Tron: Deadly Disks,  Valkyria Chronicles